Photo © Flickr user brad.schram

As I was driving down the road this morning, I saw a massive red-shouldered hawk take flight and powerfully flap its wings as it flew along the road ahead of me and just above the treeline. I quickly realized it had just been in a tree within a hundred yards of my chicken coop, scoping out my hens to see which would make a tasty chicken dinner.

It's November, and the time of year that we have often lost a chicken or two to hawks - possibly this very same hawk, as he looked well-fed, mature, and large enough to at least attempt to make off with a full-grown hen. It's also the time of year that everything from fisher cats to raccoons to weasels are starting to get hungry, and looking to fortify themselves with whatever food is handy - and often, poultry look like an easy meal.

I put together some tips on keeping your chickens, turkeys, ducks and other poultry safe from predators. I hope those baby chicks you've nurtured into lovely young pullets begin laying very soon, and that they all stay safe from potential predators.

Do you live out of reach of DSL, cable or cell phones? I do. And as I sit here at the library because I've exceeded my 30-day bandwidth limit on satellite internet, I began to ponder whether I'm not the only ruralite who both needs to make a living on the farm, and lives on a farm out of reach of inexpensive broadband.

As a farmer, getting your business off the ground means having a website. And social networking has become central to getting the word out about your farm (when you're not actually in the field, which presents its own issues). There's even software for taking CSA orders online, which can streamline your workflow and simplify your life.

But none of it matters if you're stuck dialing in on an old, crackly phone line, or wasting valuable hours driving somewhere that has an Internet connection. What are your options if DSL and cable aren't available? From what I've found you have a few:

• Fixed wireless. Fixed wireless is a relatively new technology for Internet connections. It offers high-speed connections using radio transmitters and repeaters to boost signal to rural areas. With fixed wireless, you must have line of sight to another tower. This makes it challenging in hilly or mountainous terrain. This type of service is popping up in more and more places in rural Vermont - sadly, not where I live. My neighbors who live just a bit uphill from me can get it, though.
• Cellular. If you can get a cell signal (I can't), there are many new options for accessing the Internet via a data plan. Verizon offers this snazzy new Intelligent Mobile Hotspot that can connect up to five computers!
• Satellite. This is what I rely on. The two main satellite Internet providers are WildBlue and HughesNet. I've heard mixed reviews about each of them, but HughesNet is the only one with truly business-level options - beware, they come with a business-level pricetag. I have been using WildBlue, but after exhausting all the options by calling every provider I can find, yet again, to see if anything has changed, I may end up switching satellite providers.

That bring me to another tip: things change, and ISPs expand coverage constantly, so make sure you call every 6 months to a year to see if they've expanded coverage to your area yet. And, don't forget about the possibility of mobilizing your community to get Internet. Most small providers serving rural areas will tell you how many people they need on board to bring Internet to your town or area. See if you can whip up a little support for broadband, and things might change for your small farm.

It can be tempting to start farming without realizing what you're getting into. A few chickens, maybe some ducks, even a goat or a couple of sheep - it's all fun until you see that the reality is: you are going to have to kill an animal at some point. Whether it's putting an ailing duck out of its misery, or killing an animal you raised for meat, or culling your older hens that are done with their laying cycle - death is part of life on the farm.

As I've watched the chicken trend take off, I've often wondered about the other side of it: what will all these folks who are enjoying the new idea of having fresh eggs and laying hens do when those hens stop producing eggs in about two years? Feed them grain for the next six years and wait to get new hens because they don't have more coop space? Or will they embrace putting their layers in the stewpot and get a fresh batch of baby chicks?

Novella Carpenter, an urban farmer in Oakland, California, recently taught a class in chicken slaughter and processing in Kansas City, the Kansas City Star reports. Would-be farmers, urban and suburban homesteaders alike got to learn how to humanely end the animal's lives and turn them into food for the table.

Last year we raised our first batch of meat chickens, and I posted an article with step-by-step details on processing them. This year, we repeated the process but with about ten of our spent laying hens who were three years old. Laying hens can be a bit tough - these aren't roasting chickens like the tender, young, seven-week-old meat birds. They're excellent for long-stewing recipes like coq au vin, and make amazing chicken stock (you can then pick the carcass and use it for meat for a soup made with the stock).

My advice? Embrace the cycle of life and death on the farm. It's part of being a farmer. When you connect with where your meat comes from, and make sure to honor the spirit of the animal as it gives its life to nourish you, it doesn't seem as horrifying as it might at first blush.

good neighbors. They keep animals in, keep predators out, and keep different species of animal separate from one another if needed - or keep males from females of the same species! They can be permanent, or temporary and movable, depending on your needs. But sometimes the options can be overwhelming, especially with some of the newer technologies like electric net fencing. Check out my fencing guide to get an overview of the types of fencing, and be sure to consider the different applications of fencing:

• Perimeter fencing. Many farmers choose to fence a perimeter around the border of the property. Perimeter fencing can keep out predators (even when those predators are wandering neighborhood dogs) and serves as a boundary for your animals should they escape from interior fencing.
  
  
• Paddocks. You can use electric net fencing or polywire to fence temporary pastures or paddocks within a larger grazing pasture. Rotational grazing is key to raising animals who are sustaining themselves on fresh, growing grass instead of grain.
  
  
• Permanent or semi-permanent pen. Depending on your management practices, you might not be moving animals very often, and require more permanent solutions to keeping your animals in one place. Choose a fencing solution that doesn't need to be moved frequently and that can stand up to the stresses of time and exposure, winds, vegetation, and animals pushing against it repeatedly.
  

It's not too late to get some fencing up before the snow flies! Depending on your climate, it might be an ideal time to work on fence solutions. And make sure to check and repair your fences before the cold season comes. Right now many predatory animals are looking for food before winter really sets in. You don't want that food to be your delicious, plump free-range chickens - trust me!

Photo © Lauren Ware

Do you heat your home with wood? Wood heat can be an economical way to heat your house, and for many of us striving to be more self-sufficient, wood is the only way to go. Here in Vermont, we have plenty of trees, and are able to either thin our own woodlot for cordwood or purchase from a neighbor who logs sustainably (no clear-cuts, just selective cutting).

We heat our home almost entirely with wood, but use a small ventless propane heater in the basement when we need it (we'd love to replace it with a woodstove at some point). We do use propane for hot water and cooking, but many homesteaders have wood cookstoves and wood-fired hot water heaters, too.

If you want to go totally self-sufficient, wood is a very appealing way to go - depending on your geography, of course. Those of you in the Southwest can enjoy harnessing the sun's rays for heating hot water, and wood heat isn't always a realistic option when you live in the desert. As always, sustainability depends on what resources you have around you. What choices do you make that are based on your local climate, geography and physical resources?

I don't know about what things look like in the rest of the country, but in the Northeast we're having a spell of unseasonably cold weather and potential snow in the forecast. All this cold and snowy weather reminds me that winter is just around the corner!

What are you busy preparing for the cold winter ahead? I'm putting my strawberries to bed, getting my chickens set up in their winter coop, and stacking wood on the porch. Don't forget to check your woodstove and get your chimney cleaned if you use wood heat or a fireplace!

Busy, busy. Do you think an Indian summer will surprise us? Or are we in for an extra long, cold winter this year?

Photo © Lauren Ware

The Associated Press reported last week that more Americans are starting small-scale and hobby farms. Farms under 50 acres grew 15 percent last year according to the Department of Agriculture's census, and farms under 10 acres grew nearly 30 percent!

That said, there's a bunch of information missing here. Farmers weren't asked if they make money, nor were they asked why they farm. The article conflates "hobby" and "small" farm - and while those can overlap, to me, a person who sells produce at the farmers market is crossing the line from hobby farmer to, well - farmer. In business. That's the distinction I draw on this site as well: homesteading is the process of becoming self-sufficient (of course there are varying degrees of self-sufficiency) and may involve bartering goods and/or services but generally doesn't involve sales; hobby farming is farming purely for pleasure without a goal of earning money or becoming self-sufficient; and small farming means farming on a small scale for income or profit.

There's a lot of overlap there, though. I still consider us primarily homesteaders, but we sell our eggs as well as barter them. I have a name for our farm and it has "farm" in it. Our goal is self-sufficiency but we're not always zooming right along the path; sometimes we take a few steps backward, even.

How do you define these words? What distinctions do you draw? What do you wonder about the US Department of Ag's census numbers? What new questions should they ask farmers next time? Please share, here or in the Small Farm Forums.